10 Important Life Lessons I Learned From Watching Mad Men

Are you as big of a Mad Men fan fanatic as I am?

Captivated from the first episode I’ve loved and cherished every minute artistic detail of this sublimely rich series. I’ve tried to absorb each tiny detail and nuance. I wanted to extract the maximum pleasure and make it last longer, like a morsel of quality dark chocolate, slowly savouring it, letting it leisurely melt with the warmth of my tongue, wishing it would go on forever.

I never would have thought such a slow paced period drama based on unique individual character development, not action, the subtext at times more important than the actual dialogue would make me yearn for Sunday nights. The succinct soul searching writing of Matthew Weiner’s brilliant script captured the sweet sad emptiness that we all feel at one time or another in our lives. Through the hilarious one line zingers of Roger to the philosophical poignant insight into the human condition as captured through the eyes of any one of the lead characters I have learned so much from watching Mad Men over the past eight years. Each episode was a hearty meal for thought which often left me hungry for more and wondering…

What is happiness? When are we truly satisfied? Do we even matter?

When a TV series can stir such questions and reflection within ourselves it is worth watching and sharing.

10 Important Life Lessons I Learned From Watching Mad Men

1. The grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence. Be grateful for what you have now.

7. Things can turn at the drop of a hat. Change is the only constant in life.

8. Success doesn’t bring happiness.

9. Everyone makes mistakes, you’ll get over it.

10. You can only strive to please yourself in life.

There are so many truly great quotes from this series I could have easily included another 25 here. Don’t take my word for it…watch it from the beginning, or like my husband and I decided, savour the series all over again on Netflix.

Comments

I share your love of this show. As wonderful as the acting is, the writing is what makes it excel. The characters are beautifully drawn. Because the show has multiple loose threads which will never get tied up, I don’t believe the ending will satisfy everyone.

Oh Suzanne you summed up this marvelous show so well. I adore watching these well crafted characters come to life under such great artist and literary tutelage. You are so right- it did have a role in reigniting certain vintage looks and mid century decor. Ir was such fun to watch the changes in their character, fashions, and story line as they spanned two decades… I will also miss this show, and hope, like you, that the end is befitting the production
xx, Ellehttp://mydailycostume.com
also loved your quotes!

Funnily enough, as probably the only person left who hasn’t seen a single episode of Mad Men, I thought I’d start watching the first series via Sky box sets. Very stylish, yes, but I’m not captivated, as yet. We’ll see. But you’re clearly a Superfan, Suzanne! xxx

I love this series, too (my husband’s ring tone on his phone for me is this music). For the first time, this year we will have the series 24 hours after it plays in the USA, so no waiting longggggggggggg months for it to finally appear. Can’t wait! And with GOT starting week after that…yeah!!!

Great quotes all! I have been a fan since the first episode, but the splitting up of the seasons into two parts ruined the momentum for me, and I’ve found it hard to get back into the story after such a long break in between. That said, I will be watching tonight (and have the previous episodes from the season on in the background while I’m writing this). I have my fingers crossed that there is a well-written, moving ending that is true to the spirit of the show.

I’m a huge Mad Men fanatic as well…. watching new episodes on Sundays and old episodes on Netflix is one of the things my boyfriend and I bonded over when we first started dating! These quotes are amazing, and this is such a great collection of them. one of my personal favorites is actually from a smaller character Bobbie Barrett: “This is America; pick a job and become the person who does it.”…. this quote inspires me as a blogger every day!
Kisses,
Sarahhttp://everydaystarlet.com/